Proof that gardening is good for us

It’s all well and good to talk about the benefits of gardening but Charlie Hall wants to prove it is true.

Communities with inviting green spaces where people can relax have lower crime rates.

Photograph by: Jenelle Schneider
, Vancouver Sun

Charlie Hall thinks it’s not good enough to simply tell people that gardening is a good thing to do because flowers are pretty and planting trees and shrubs makes the world more beautiful and ultimately more livable.

All of which is true. But Hall wants to prove the benefits of gardening by producing unequivocal evidence, supported by convincing research data and verifiable scientific proof.

Who is Charlie Hall?

He’s one of the most influential leaders in horticulture in North America today, famous for giving passionate, informed lectures.

An economist by training, he is a professor in the department of horticultural sciences at Texas A&M University.

He has all sorts of other titles, but all you really need to know is that he is the expert everyone in the gardening industry listens to very carefully because of the detailed work he has done to nail down precise data about the benefits of gardening.

His research has unearthed compelling facts and statistics that prove being around plants makes everything better, including helping children to learn faster, improving health, reducing crime, enhancing the natural environment and greatly reducing the stress of everyday life.

I doubt you have heard of his name before today, but it is well known to all the movers and shakers in what is now known as the “green industry” — covering everything from garden centres to landscaping to the basic nitty-gritty of upkeep of parks and other community green spaces.

“You may have heard the term ‘greenwashing,’ ” he told me in a phone interview recently. “This is when a company makes a claim that it is doing something that is environmentally friendly without backing up the statement with evidence.

“The consumer is left asking, ‘What is the basis for them saying that? Where did they come up with that information?’ ”

Hall says it was his desire to have facts at his fingertips rather than anecdotal experiences to back up assertions that got him to start compiling research data from a wide variety of respected sources, including many not directly connected to the horticultural industry, such as Harvard Medical School.

Over two years, he gathered more than 400 research documents showing the benefits of gardening and other aspects of the horticultural industry.

Here are just a few of his key findings:

• People are able to concentrate better in the workplace or in the home and have better memory retention when they are around plants. “Tasks performed while under the calming influence of nature are performed better with greater accuracy.”

Spending time in nature gives people an increased feeling of vitality, better energy levels and makes them feel more animated, he says.

• Children learn better when they are around plants. “Research shows that kids learn faster when they are in a green environment. Those with attention deficit disorders have longer attention spans when they are in a natural garden-like environment as opposed to a sterile, concrete classroom,” Hall says. “You’d think it would be counter-intuitive; if you take kids to an outdoor classroom where there are all sorts of distractions, dogs barking and so on. But the opposite is true.”

• Gardening can act as therapy for people who have undergone trauma. “The act of nurturing something is a way for people to work through the issues surrounding traumatic events and improve their mental health.”

• Residents are more likely to exercise if there is a community park or landscaped area nearby. Exercise improves their health through physical fitness which can cut health care costs.

• Landscaping is one of the most cost-effective methods for changing a community. “It is a fact that neighbourhoods with beautiful parks tend to have less crime. Simply by landscaping a formerly crime-ridden park, a community can be transformed into a safe and friendly neighbourhood environment.” Hall says parks also give people a reason to come together and become a tight-knit community.

• Quality landscaping improves property values. “You get a $1.09 return on every dollar invested. It is the only home improvement that generates a greater than one dollar return for every dollar spent,” says Hall.

“Put the same dollar into a bathroom or kitchen and, according to the Home Remodelling Institute, you get 73 cents return for that dollar, but our own research shows that with every dollar put into landscaping you get $1.09 in return.”

• Businesses do better when even a little strip of landscaping is added outside their premises. “Research shows businesses sell more stuff when they have an esthetically-pleasing landscape outside. People shop longer, feel more at ease, will come long distances to shop, and are often willing to pay higher prices.”

• Beautiful parks and landscapes enable communities to reap benefits from ecotourism. “In this new green environmentally-conscious era people are becoming more interested in exploring the beauty of nature while maintaining its integrity.”

This is one reason Hall believes botanical gardens and other public gardens and green spaces should be supported without hesitation by local government. “Ecotourism is a smart way for communities to bring in revenue with relatively little cost to themselves. Walt Disney proved this to us years ago — that people will come to the swamps of Florida in the middle of summer to be in a beautiful, engaging environment.”

• Studies show that people who spend time cultivating plants have less stress. “Plants sooth human beings and provide a positive way for people to channel their stress into nurturing.”

Hall’s core message boils down to this: the green industry — gardening, landscaping, the growing and selling of flowers and plants and all the rest of it — is about much more than creating “pretty environments.” It is also about other positive factors from health to air quality to job creation to community relations, spinoffs that most people never think about.

“The message that plants are more than just pretty needs to be incorporated into the marketing message of every single business in the green industry,” Hall says.

“We need to give people the facts that prove plants are not merely an indulgence, but an essential necessity if we want to live positive, productive, healthy lives.”